I Can't Use What I Can't Abuse - Prologue
by Lucca
Summary: What if Rubeus hadn't died?
1. Default Chapter Title

Disclaimer: The events of this story start to take place near the end of the Sailor moon episode 'Rubeus strikes out.' I haven't seen this episode so I'm not sure of what occurs here other then Esmeraude refusing to save Rubeus, and of the poor guy dying. This is a tale of what would happen if the latter didn't happen. Please excuse me for getting a lot of facts wrong as the story progresses. I don't know much about what happens after Rubeus smashes a mirror after the Uncanny sisters get turned good by Sailor moon. Anyways, here goes. 

Prologue 

"Damn…" Rubeus groaned as he was knocked to the floor by the blast of something inside his ship exploding. The UFO couldn't take much more of this. Any second now it would explode and take both of them to kingdom come. "I'll get you for this moon bitch!" he snarled as he got slowly up off the floor and brushed small pieces of debris off his green pants and brown leather top. Just a few minutes ago, he had had all the senshi captured in this very UFO. Sailors Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter, he had had crucified on jakozuishou crosses, Sailor moon and the rabbit had been lured here to set them free. He had had the moon bitch defeated… and then that rabbit, the little shit, had set the ship on self-destruct. They all escaped and now he, Rubeus, was left alone, to go down with his ship.   
There's nothing I can do to save her… too bad. Oh well, I'll just go back to Nemesis, get another one, come back and blast the senshi to hell he thought and smirked. The smirk then turned into a thoughtful look. But if I go back to Prince Demando empty handed, it'd be an embarrassment. At least they know I HAD all the senshi trapped here, I showed them on the monitor. No one else could have achieved that. Especially not that green haired bitch Esmeraude! She doesn't have a clue about anything! …If I make it look like I got them as bad as they got my poor ship he sighed as he looked around him at the now burning interior. It had once been the finest ship in the Nemesian army, and his to do with, as he wanted. When it had been given to him instead of Esmeraude, (who wouldn't know the difference between the head and backend of a sheep) she had been furious. Ha! That was the understatement of the year! She was so up herself it wasn't funny. Basically, everyone in the Black moon family were up themselves (with the exception of Saffir who cared for nothing except his brother). Esmeraude made them all look like selfless saints.   
The ship… it was almost painful to look at it. I can have a hero's return and be looked up to as Demando's greatest warrior.   
This made him smile. Now I just have to make it look like I'm prepared to go down with my ship, like the hero I am. Reaching up to his right ear, he took off one his beloved earrings. Holding it in his palm, he looked carefully at it. It was a shard of the infamous jakozuishou that gave the members of the Dark moon family so much power, a gift to their Prince, from the Wiseman. Fuck the Wiseman he thought.   
The black crystal shard glittered evilly in the firelight, too bad he had to throw away another tool. Tool… yes, he had had many tools to use and abuse. But unlike the sisters, this was useful. At least he could get another one when he got back to Nemesis.   
Without another thought he dropped it on the floor and crushed it under his boot heel. The crystal made a few loud cracking noises before it splintered into tiny fragments. Rubeus stood back and looked at his handy work. Good… now all I have to do is wait for Demando to send someone to come get me.   
He didn't have to wait long. About 8 seconds later, he felt the familiar aura resonance's of someone warping into the control room. Without turning, he knew who it was, though he didn't understand why Demando had sent HER.   
"Why Esmeraude, I didn't know you cared" he drawled as he turned slowly to look at her, the movement catching the firelight and making his gorgeous red hair look like it was dancing with the fire. His remaining earring and cerise eyes glittered cruelly in the light, both mocking the green haired woman standing before them. 

She glared at him once before turning to survey the interior of the ship. "Tsk, tsk Rubeus… what a mess! Demando is not going to be pleased that you managed to totally demolish his best ship. Even though it was given to you…" she glared at him again, one hand on her hip, the other clasping that stupid frilly pink fan she took everywhere with her. It should have been given to me! She thought as she languidly waved it in front of her beautiful face, hiding everything except her slitted, deep brown eyes. 

Rubeus had to roll his eyes. This was so like his cousin, major drama queen that she was.   
"The ship is going to go any time now. When are you planning on taking us out? The last second?" he snapped, putting a hand on his hip and glaring back at her. 

She feigned surprise. "Us? What do you mean 'us'?" she asked in a sugary sweet voice. She laughed down at him, her voice a high pitched cackle. 

Rubeus was taken aback. His eyes widened to shock for a second before he settled himself.   
"Demando obviously sent you here to take me back to the 30th century." 

"Why Rubeus, I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about!" she said trying to sound innocent and make him sound dumb. 

She's playing one of her stupid games he thought as he ran a hand through his beautiful crimson hair, the light from the fires reflecting off the glossy strands and shining with it's brilliance. "Oh, then what are you here for, a fan that actually goes with what you're wearing?" his eyes glittered maliciously. It was no big secret that he hated her. Her feelings towards him weren't much different. 

Esmeraude's eyes widened in shock and she looked aghast. Did he just insult me…? Realizing this her face went red with anger. "How dare you!" she shrieked. "My fan goes perfectly well with my dress and…" but Rubeus cut her off. 

"And the sisters were better dressers then you. That really says a lot doesn't it," he said coolly. "Now are you going to stand there with your mouth open all day or are you going to take us back." That was an order, not a question, and she knew it. 

"You know Rubeus, I'm not going to miss you at all. I only came here as a messenger for Demando" she stopped and smiled cruelly. Rubeus didn't look like he cared. Damn.   
"Frankly, you're pathetic. Even Saffir is more useful then you. I came here to tell you that you're not coming back. Ever. We don't need someone like you. You failed miserably. It's all up to me to clean up your mess now. Too bad cousin. I'm sure no one will miss you when you're gone. Ha ha ha!" she laughed "Whereas if I ever die, they'll miss me, and remember me and my beauty for all eternity!" 

Rubeus had to laugh at this. "Esmeraude, if that pole was any higher up your arse you wouldn't be able to walk, let alone stand without screaming. Oh, but I forgot, you like long, hard things shoved up there don't you. And what you want now is Demando's…" 

"SHUT-UP!" she shrieked, cutting him off. "You have no right to speak to me that way! What about you and those sisters! I mean, come on, really…." She stammered, not really sure what to say back to him. How did he know about Demando…Her face was red with anger. If she'd have been any angrier she'd be foaming at the mouth. Rubeus didn't look at all perturbed by that. In fact, he just looked amused. He wasn't even shocked that she knew about his little 'flings'. After all, they never meant anything to him. Sex was just sex. What else were women for? 

"Yes… Esmeraude. Though unlike you I don't have to go down on hands and knees and beg for what I want. I don't even have to ask, I just take it. That really gets to you doesn't it. Because you can't do the same with dear Prince Demando!" with this he threw back his head and laughed deeply. The laugh was hard and cruel. Esmeraude paled visibly and put a hand to her mouth, unsure of what to do. Then, thinking of something, she again glared daggers at him 

"Look, I just came to say goodbye and that you're pathetic. I haven't nearly said enough about your past mistakes. At least you won't be making anymore to embarrass yourself further!" she laughed. 

Rubeus was stunned. Demando wouldn't do this to me, would he? She just came here to laugh at me? I'm going to…die? No, she's kidding. Just rattling me. "Esmeraude, take us out of here NOW" he said angrily. 

She just looked at him and raised one of her perfectly sculpted eyebrows. "I already told you I'm not taking you out. You're going to die here Rubeus." She was going to say something else but the ship jerked suddenly and sent them both sprawling. Unfortunately for her fan, she accidentally threw it halfway across the room when she fell. The frilly, pink material was hungrily being eaten by the flames. Cursing, she got up slowly on her high stiletto heels and ran as fast as she could to her poor fan. She carefully pulled it out of the fire and stamped on a few times to smother the small flames that had taken hold of it. She then bent down and lovingly scooped it up. Her poor darling was singed and blackened in many places. Some of it had been burnt right off. Behind her, Rubeus was trying to smother a laugh. Oh, this is amusing he thought, forgetting for the time being the situation he was in. When Esmeraude actually turned and faced him, he caught sight of her fan and he actually, genuinely laughed. He hadn't done so in a long time. 

Esmeraude was so close to crying that without thinking, she waved her now dead fan in front of her face as she usually did. Rubeus practically fell over at the spectacle. He was laughing so hard. Not a good thing to have done in his position.   
She stopped waving her fan, stared at it and then folded it shut and held it in her hand, which was tightly clenched as she took in the sight of her cousin, her nemesis, who was doubled over, laughing so hard it must have hurt his stomach. 

"Stop it!" she snapped. 

"You have no idea how ridiculous you look" he laughed. She looked down at herself and noticed that it hadn't just been her darling he'd been laughing it. Her short, dark green dress had managed to slide up a bit too much and was showing off just a touch more then she had wanted to show to anyone…. Other then Demando that is. 

She grabbed as much as she could of the tight garment and pulled it down as far as it would go. How dare he laugh at my legs, they're beautiful! 

"Getting shy are we cousin? Tsk tsk" he imitated her from earlier on "how very unlike you." He scolded mockingly. She would have slapped him then, had she been sure that she could get away with it. Instead, she held herself in check and said through gritted teeth "I'm going to go now." 

Ok, now he started to look a bit on edge. "What..?" he asked, trying not to get hysterical. 

"I'm going," she said, eyeing him mockingly. 

"Esmeraude, you can't leave me here!" he said sternly, still not believing that she would. 

"Good bye Rubeus" Esmeraude said sweetly, and blew him a kiss before warping out with her blackened fan. 

"Esmeraude…" Rubeus couldn't believe what had just happened. It wasn't possible!   
The ship groaned and shook, nearly throwing him off his feet again. He lurched forward, panicking, and reached for the place Esmeraude had been standing not too long ago.   
"ESMERAUDE!" he screamed. 

The ship shuddered and a roaring noise beneath him blocked out any other sound he might have heard. He was weak. He didn't have enough power left to warp. Maybe if he tried hard, used up all his strength he might make it to the world below, to Earth, to Tokyo. He still had one earring. 

The roaring grew louder, and the inside of the ship, hotter. Maybe because he did have enough power, or maybe because he had a huge adrenaline rush, or maybe even through his strength and sheer will to survive, he managed to warp from the floor of the ship just before it exploded.   
He must have warped just above ground level because he landed, hard, on something stiff and almost unyielding. It was cold, and sounded like metal. It seemed to have dented inwards when he fell on it, whatever it was. He didn't care. He blacked out almost instantly from exhaustion.   



	2. Default Chapter Title

I can't use what I can't abuse

#  Disclaimer: Congratulations. You've made it thus far. You must be proud. He he he…

However, enough of that. Please forgive me if I get characters personalities wrong. As I said before, I haven't seen much of the R season, and anything after that. Umm… I believe this is where I say something like "None of these characters belong to me, they were created by Takeuchi Naoko. And yes. I do not hate any of the characters if it seems that way. And also I have nothing against teenybopper music. It just seemed to…fit.

Anyways, here it is. Enjoy!

##  Part 1

The door slammed shut behind her as she hurried out of the room. It was just one of those days. Though, with someone like Mimete around, it was ALWAYS one of those days. _With_ _that annoying little blonde in the same building, its to get anything done. _

_I'm ALWAYS getting plagued by questions from that little blonde airhead about what I'm doing, and why. It's enough to drive me insane!_ She bitched in her head _Ha! Though people may argue that I went insane a long time ago_. She chuckled and tossed one her long red ponytails over her shoulder where it belonged. 

_Just to make her shut-up and leave me alone I had to use bribery! She's like a puppy, no matter how much you hurt it; it will always come back for more. _That was Mimete all over. Cute, bubbly and flamboyant. It was enough to make you gag. _Why can't she be more like Tellu and hide away in a… hot house or something? Though who knows WHAT Tellu does in there. She's just lucky Blondie's too scared to go in and annoy HER instead! Some people have all the luck…Oh well, at least when I get back I can finally get it to leave me alone! I KNOW that my day can't get any worse. It'd be impossible! _

Eudial walked out of the lab complex building and into the car park towards where she had parked her little white hatchback. She parked it in the same place all the time, so she never had to look for it because she just _knew_ where it was. It was because of this that she didn't look at it. She was also too busy looking at the ground and bitching about Mimete. She opened the driver side door and slid inside, only sitting straight when she went to close the door. This is when something funny happened. She hit her head on the ceiling. 

"MMMmmmbop!!!!!!!!!" she sang in time with the stereo, as she rifled through paper after paper on the cluttered desk. None of them made any sense to her at all! _Just what IS it that she does anyway?_ Mimete thought as she pulled a frustrated hand through her shoulder blonde hair. Nobody told her anything! _I've asked her a zillion and one times what she does. Hey, I do it everyday! She's so rude she doesn't even answer! What is her problem anyway? I'm just being friendly. …I wonder what Professor Tomoe is doing right now? _Thinking about him she stopped rummaging through the papers on the desk and looked hopefully at the clock on the wall. Damn! It was only 1:23 in the afternoon. The Professor would be busy. Sighing, she looked at the computer. Eudial would kill her if she touched it. Well, she already had and there was nothing interesting on it. That was the first thing she had looked at after Eudial had literally run out of the room to go and buy her some… provisions. Just a few magazines, a couple of snacks, and a really nice shade of pink lipstick that she had had her eye on since this morning. Eudial was actually being nice to her for once by offering to buy her something so she could go away and… relax in her own office undisturbed. Though, for the life of her, she couldn't understand why she had cringed so much at the probable cost of the list. It wasn't going to cost that much! Well, the lipstick was a _little _expensive, but it was affordable! 

Sighing, she sat down on the swivel chair and started turning circles on it. _I wonder where Eudial keeps her magazines?_

_What the hell?_ She thought as she looked up at the roof of her car. It was… dented inwards. A lot. She sat there looking stupidly at it for a few minutes with her mouth hanging open. Then… her eyes blazed and her face contorted into something not unlike the look of something… possessed. She yanked open the door, stepped menacingly onto the ground and slamming the door shut again, she turned to survey the damage. For the second time that day, or in the last 3 minutes, her jaw dropped. There was a man lying on her car. He was on his back, half spread-eagled, his left side facing her. A man. _A MAN FOR FUCK'S SAKE!_ She thought incredulously. _Is he dead? Should I touch him?_ She did so, very tentatively on the side of his neck to check for a pulse. It was there, and as if she had been electrified, she jerked her hand away. _What to do…_ she looked assessingly at him, noticing that he was tall and well built, with the proverbial bulging torso. His hair was a deep, beautiful crimson like hers and also like her, his skin was pale. He wore a brown leather top, which showed a good deal of his torso. His pants were green and over the top of them he had shiny black boots that went three quarters of the way up his calves. He had an earring through his ear, gold top and a jagged black crystal that glittered ominously in the light. _It is kinda pretty _she thought_ but I'd never wear anything like it. It suits him though_._ I wonder what he looks like?_ She reached out to his chin and turned his face toward her. He was gorgeous. She'd seen better, but damn was he gorgeous. But what was this curious mark on his brow? It looked like an upside down half moon, except it was black. Maybe it was a birthmark or a tattoo. It didn't matter right now. 

She looked at the strange man and the car, then at the lab complex and back again. There was only one thing for it. 

"Make it last forever…. Friendship never ends!!!!!!!!!!!!" she sang happily. She loved English pop songs. They were just so… catchy! She hadn't found any magazines but what she had found was very interesting. VERY interesting indeed! She was just lucky that Eudial would be gone for a while. The red head certainly WOULD kill her if she found her reading this. 

"Ahhh!!!!" Eudial cried as she collapsed under the weight. He was heavier then he looked. But she'd be damned if she was going to leave him out here. Besides, she wanted compensation for her car. How DARE he land on it. Of all cars it had to be hers. Why? 

She had grabbed his arms and pulled him down off the car, intending to half drag, half carry him to her lab. But unfortunately she hadn't expected him to just… fall on top of her! Now she'd have a monster bruise planted on her butt and that was all his fault as well. _Okay, okay! So it wasn't impossible for my day to get worse and it could get worser still. Give me a break! I don't deserve this!_

She pushed him off her and stood up. Sighing, she bent down and took his wrists. She'd just have to drag him to her lab. 

It wasn't that hard. She had got him inside the building and was halfway to the elevator when she was intervened by one of her cohorts. It was a super smart woman by name of Villuy. 

"New boyfriend?" she asked, obviously amused. 

"Hardly" Eudial replied tartly. 

"Wouldn't he come willingly?" she teased, twining some of her long white hair around a finger. 

Eudial stood up straight and glared. 

"Oh I see! You poor dear. Why…" 

"Not in the mood Villuy" she interrupted "Now excuse me!" she snapped and dragged the man around the white haired woman and to the elevator. Villuy turned and smiled sweetly at her until the doors had closed and Eudial was out of sight.

_What is it with everyone around here? Why do they always have to stick their noses in everyone's business! _Now she was very annoyed and angrily punched in her floor number. It was several floors below ground level. 

The elevator opened with a high pitched 'ping!' She grabbed hold of his wrists and dragged him down the hall, the remainder of the way to her lab/office. Reaching the door she was surprised to hear teenybopper shit coming from inside. Throwing the door wide she opened her mouth to tell Mimete to turn the bloody stereo off and was greeted with "I'll tell you what I want what I really really want, so tell me what you want what you really really want…" 

Mimete was sitting in HER chair and reading HER plans! 

"MIMETE!" she shouted, her anger beyond boiling point. The little blonde literally jumped out of her skin. Then realizing that she'd been sprung, jumped off the chair, put the plans behind her back and faced Eudial with a big grin. A REALLY big grin. 

"Uh…. Hi Eudial!" she stammered in her unusually high voice. 

"What the hell do you think your doing?" Eudial shrieked at her. If her red eyes had the power to fry things, Mimete would've evaporated the second she'd been spotted. 

"I was reading!" she answered sheepishly. 

"Reading what?" Eudial replied knowing full well what it was but wanting to know how much the little shit had learnt. 

"Your gun plans…." Mimete mumbled, looking at the floor. 

"I see. And I suppose that you've memorized most of it haven't you!" Eudial hissed. 

"I… don't know anything at all!" she exclaimed. 

"Good" she knew she was lying. She'd make her slip up. After all, Mimete was a ditz. "So, what do you think of the new assignment Kaorinite has given me?" 

"You mean 'us!' The Witches 5! I think it's exciting! Though seriously, how do you expect to find the talismans with that gun? It just blasts the heart crystals out of their chests. How do you know they won't be damaged or something?" a second later, she realized her mistake and clapped a hand over her mouth. 

_That was too easy_ she thought. "Mimete, if you breathe a word of this to anyone, I'll kill you; _very_ slowly. Got that?" 

"…. Yes…" 

"Good. Now SCRAM!" 

"Eudial, you didn't get me anything did you?" she had to ask. She just couldn't help herself. 

"No. Now go away! I'm busy." 

"Ok. Fine!" Mimete said angrily and proceeded to walk out the door, caught sight of the unconscious form on the floor and stopped. Her eyes glazed, and a wide smile spread on her face and, taking a sharp breath she let loose with "Omigod! He's so cute! Who is he? What's he doing here? Um…Why is he unconscious?" 

"Fuck" said Eudial under her breath. She was starting to develop a migraine.

_Yes… this has been a most… gratifying day_ she thought smugly as she stalked into the audience chamber, her now defunct fan hanging from her hand where it was accustomed; because she had forgotten to put it down somewhere. There were only two people in there. They seemed to be having a rather heated… argument. It stopped as soon as she stepped through the door. Both pairs of eyes turned to look at her. One set a deep, rich purple, the other a deep, dark blue. They belonged to the Princes Demando and Saffir. Demando, the ruler of Nemesis was very handsome and regal. His face was framed in beautiful silvery white hair that went halfway down his neck. Esmeraude loved it and wanted to run her fingers through the silky strands. He wouldn't have let her is she tried: not that she knew that, she was so vain. His face, right at this very moment looked very angry. He looked even less please when he saw she was alone. 

Saffir was also very handsome. His face was framed in short, dark, dark blue hair. He betrayed no emotion at all. On both men's foreheads (and hers of course) was an upside down, black moon. The family symbol. Rubeus had had one too, as had those accursed sisters. 

"Where's Rubeus?" Demando demanded. 

Esmeraude stared at the floor and did her best to sound sad. "He…" she paused. 

"He's what? Down in the infirmary lazing off? Don't tell me he was actually injured?" his voice was harsh and without pity. 

"Prince Demando… the ship blew up before I got there," she said in a rush. 

Ok. To say that both men were a little startled would be an understatement. Demando's head snapped up and stared at her averted face, unblinking. Saffir, who rarely betrayed any emotion at all, had widened his eye and opened his mouth for a second or two before going back to being expressionless. He had never liked Rubeus, but he was his cousin. And family meant a lot. He could literally feel his brother's temper reaching boiling point. And when Demando got angry, it was not very smart to be anywhere near him. 

Demando moved over to Esmeraude, cupped her chin and raised her head so that she'd be forced to look into his eyes. Like a deer caught in headlights, she was trapped. _Damn it all! Why do you have to make me look into your eyes? This is so unfair! Ok. I can get away with this; I've been in worse situations before…lie._

"You wouldn't lie to me Esmeraude, would you?" he asked silkily. 

"O… of course not Prince Demando" she stammered slightly. 

"Good. Now, what happened?" he demanded. 

"As I said, the UFO blew up before I got there" to her credit, her voice was steady. She really hated lying to him, and it was a big effort, being just an inch away from him… 

He knew she was lying. Saffir knew she was lying. Esmeraude knew she was lying. But what were they going to do? They wouldn't hurt her, she was family! And she was also a woman, which gave her another reason to feel that she was a little bit safe. He'd just yell at her for a bit and then everything would be all right. 

_Lying, scheming bitch_ Demando thought, concealing his anger behind his eyes. Oh well. Rubeus was dead, even though he wasn't supposed to be. What could be done now? It was too late. A death for a death wasn't the answer. She was lucky. This time. 

He let go of her chin and stormed over to his throne, purple cape flying behind him. 

"Leave us" he dismissed her. 

"Thank you my Prince" she bowed, turned, and was halfway to the door when Saffir decided to open his mouth. 

"What happened to your fan Esmeraude?" he asked, no emotion in his voice at all. 

She froze. "My fan?" she squeaked. _Thanks a lot you little rat!_

"That's what I said." 

_Shit. What the hell can I say about that? Okay. I'm good at lying. I can make things up without making myself look stupid. I do it all the time! Deep breathe… here goes._

"Oh this!" she exclaimed and held it up for them to see. 

They both just looked at her, waiting impatiently for her to finish. 

"Well… it's…old;" she said after a brief pause. 

"Old?" Demando questioned. 

"Yeah. I…uh… had it a few years back. Something happened to it… obviously, and I kept it so that I could fix it up again later!" she said in a rush. "Anyway, I believe I was going?" 

"Ah. Yes" he motioned for her to go again. "Oh, and Esmeraude, next time, don't do something I didn't order you to do" 

She froze at the door. 

"Or else!" 

She made a little choking sound and left rather quickly. 

Demando turned to stare at his younger brother. Saffir stared back. 

"I would have been rather worried if you hadn't known she was lying Oniisan" Saffir said. 

"She's a bad liar, a deaf man would have been able to tell" 

Saffir would have snickered if he were petty. "Poor Rubeus. I didn't like him much but I will kinda miss him" 

"As will i. He may have been many things, but he wasn't stupid. He knew how to handle those sisters; you can say that for him. Though he shouldn't have lied to me." 

"Oh, you mean about him dumping them on Earth and saying they deserted us?" 

"Yes. But I am glad they are gone. They had power, but they didn't wield it well enough. They didn't help our cause at all. We don't need weak and petty soldiers." 

"Yes… Prince Demando" Saffir said this quietly. It was not missed by Demando. 

"You still miss Petz?"

"When did I ever miss her?" 

Demando smiled. "When did you not?" he paused. "She wasn't good enough for you Saffir." 

"Of course not" Saffir replied nonchalantly. 

The brothers were quiet for a while. 

"Should we give him a funeral?" Saffir asked. 

"You know he'd have hated that." Demando smiled, imagining the disgusted look on his cousins face as he saw all the flowers and _sad _faces around his memorial. 

"Yes…" Saffir was smiling too "So we'll just leave it then?" 

Demando nodded. Then grimaced. "You know what I'm going to have to do now." 

Saffir looked up; knowing it could be any number of things. "What?" 

"Let Esmeraude take his place" he sighed. 

Saffir looked like he'd just swallowed a concoction of lemon juice and salt water. "Do you honestly think she'll do much better?" 

"She's trained to do so" he stated. 

"This will be rather amusing I suppose." 

"Of course it will. Though, if she does stuff it up, I'm not sending anyone in there to pull her out. That will be her punishment for not saving Rubeus." 

Saffir smiled. 

After closing the door to her quarters, Esmeraude leaned against the wall and sighed. 

_How did he know? Duh! You're all brains today. Nobody lies to Demando and gets away with it!_

Noticing she was still holding the defunct fan, she threw it across the room. It landed in the corner with a clatter. Why hadn't she remembered to dump it before seeing him? 

She was startled when a black shape rose out of the floor just inches away from her. 

"Oh! Wiseman!" She cried. 

"_Esmeraude" _he said while waving his hands over a black, swirling, crystal ball. _"Did you do what I asked?"_

"Yes Wiseman" she chirped. "Now, am I taking over or not?" 

_"Of course child. Here…"_ a shard of black crystal appeared in her hands. _"You will need some of these."_

She frowned at the blandness of the shard. "Wiseman, they're so… bland! Couldn't they be, I dunno, jazzed up a bit?" 

The Wiseman ceased waving his hands over his crystal ball. _"What do you want?"_

"How about making them statues of…me! They'd look great then." She stopped, noticing how he must be glaring at her. "Well, I've got to leave my mark!" she cried. 

He sighed. _"Very well"_ pointing a finger at the shard, a bolt of light shot out and enfolded itself around it. Then, the shape changed into a miniature version of Esmeraude, striking a pose with her fan held high in the air._ " Talk to Saffir about getting more of these made. You'll need about eleven."_

"Thank you Wiseman." She said. 

He disappeared through the floor from whence he came. 

She leaned back against the wall, clutching the statuette to her, and laughed. Oh THIS had been a VERY good day. 

Was it too long? Sorry! Comments? Suggestions? Please send to [Lucca@net-tech.com.au][1]

Taa!

   [1]: mailto:Lucca@net-tech.com.au



	3. Default Chapter Title

****

I can't use what I can't abuse

Disclaimer: Ooh! Part 2. Hope you're all happy! (Grins) Well, don't worry. That gorgeous evil guy Rubeus will finally wake up and start acting his sadistic evil self so don't worry! Now, I had trouble explaining some things in this part, as I didn't know what the hell they were called, but hopefully no one will notice.J None of the characters are mine unless you've never heard of them. They belong to Naoko Takeuchi. I have a coupla questions for anyone willing to answer them. But they're down the bottom. Hey! If they were up here, they'd spoil the story!

Anyways, have fun!

****

Part 2

"Hey Eudial! I think he's coming 'round!" a high, excited voice shrieked.

"Well its about time!" another voice said sounding exasperated. He heard the squeak of a desk chair as it was pushed back and then the muffled sound of heels on carpet. 

He felt a movement. Someone was sitting next to him, then there was a hand, caressing the side of his face. 

Quick as lightning he reached up with one his own and grasped the offending wrist. There was a shriek of surprise and he felt the movement of someone hurriedly getting up. He opened his eyes. The two other occupants of the room gasped when they saw his eyes. They sparkled a deep, dark, passionate crimson, and showed the malice and contempt he held for most things.

He sat up and carefully took in his surroundings. It was a lab of some kind. There was a cluttered workbench with a lot of beakers and test tubes arranged in various ways, all with coloured fluids inside. On the wall directly opposite him, was a desk with papers scattered and various other objects scattered on it, a computer took up one side. A filing cabinet was next to the desk. On this was a rather dead looking pot plant and a radio. 

On the third wall was a door, and near this, along the same wall, was a bin, overflowing, with lots of screwed up papers lying around it. 

The fourth wall had the makeshift bed he was sitting on, a couch, and a microwave.

He looked at the two people standing in front of him. Women. The one whom he had hold of, had shoulder length blonde hair and amber coloured eyes. He noticed with satisfaction that she was pretty. She had a long white lab coat over her clothes, and wide, round glasses perched on her head. She was coming out of shock rather quickly, and looked like she was going to have a big grin across her face any second. 

The other woman had three long, red ponytails and crimson eyes, like his. She was very pretty. She too wore a long white lab coat over her clothes, had red star shaped earrings that blended with her hair, and had small, rectangular glasses over eyes that were staring coldly at him. She was definitely the one in charge. 

__

Cold eyes. His eyes are cold…Eudial thought as she stared into eyes that were so like her own. _Those eyes are like mine. _She stared at him in silence, trying to assess his next move. He had startled her, waking up and grasping Mimetto's arm like that. He was still holding on to it and the little slut looked like she was enjoying herself she thought bitterly _He's practically crushing her arm and she's starting to smile? _She shook her head in disbelief. 

Whoever this guy was, he had been out cold for nearly three and a half days. She wondered what must have happened to him, and why he had ended up on HER car of all the others in the lot. She'd checked him for ID as soon as she and Mimetto had set him up on her makeshift office bed, for nights when she had a really important report to finish. Unfortunately, he'd had nothing. 

Now, he was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking fully recovered, and wide-awake. 

She was startled out of her thoughts by a deep, commanding, and slightly raspy voice. 

"I am Rubeus of the Black moon family. Where am I, what am I doing here, and who are you?"

__

He's holding my arm! He's holding my arm! He's so cute! Ahhh…I'm in love…

Mimetto felt giddy. She hardly ever fell in love, only once or twice a day. She welcomed the feeling of his fingers biting into her arm. He was touching her. How could she feel any pain when she had such muscle bound arms…? _Why is he talking to Eudial? _She thought furiously as she broke out of her trance at the sound his voice. _He should be talking to me! ME! …Ow! My arm! Ow ow ow ow…!!!!_

__

The blonde one was starting to moan and was tugging wildly at her arm. He let her go and she hurriedly ran over to her friend. 

The red head had jumped slightly when he had spoken. She was only just beginning to regain her composure again.

"Welcome, Rubeus of the Black moon family. I am Eudial, this is Mimetto. This is my lab. You are in the Science laboratory facility building of Professor Tomoe's. As to WHY you're here, you were out cold on the roof of my car, which, incidentally, is now dented inwards, and I want compensation!"

He looked slightly amused. "Oh really."

"Yes really!" She snapped. 

There was a long silence and the two stared at each other, willing the other to look away. It was Eudial who eventually did. 

"So, how did you manage to end up on my car?" she queried.

"Abandoned ship" He muttered, and turned an interesting shade of red. It was lucky for the two women that he kept his rage in check. Very lucky indeed.

"Huh?" She asked, not understanding.

Before he could repeat, Mimetto chimed in with "Back in a second!" and quickly left the room. 

He stood up just a tad shakily and made a few steps towards her desk. She gawked at him as he picked up a few papers and casually looked at everything on her desk. It was when he started to look at her computer that she snapped to attention. 

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?" She screamed indignantly.

"Looking at your files" he remarked calmly.

"Why?" she snapped, moving to stop him.

"Sit down and shut-up!" He ordered. _I need to find out all about this primitive little hole."_

She grabbed one of his wrists and tried to wrench him away from the keyboard. It didn't work. And as he turned fully around to face her, she knew that she was about to be very, very sorry.

Red dress, blue dress, white dress, finely cut, short and tight, long and flowing…so many to choose from. She opened her wallet to see how much money she had left and groaned in agonized pain. There was nothing there. She'd spent it all at other boutiques. What was she going to do now that she had no money? Maybe one of her sisters had some they could share.

"Cooan!" She turned at the sound of her name. Her sister Beruche was running towards her, carrying several large shopping bags. 

"Thank god I found you!" she puffed, tossing her head to clear her eyes of some loose strands of hair that had fallen into her eyes, "I was beginning to think I'd never find anyone again!"

Cooan laughed. Shopping at this particular mall was so fun. She and her sisters came here often… and lost each other frequently…

"This place is so big!" Beruche exclaimed. I'll never get used to it, even though back home there were lots like it…"

"I know!" Cooan said in the same tone. "How long do you think it will take to find Petz and Calaveras?" 

Beruche looked thoughtful. "Well…if we're lucky, maybe about 2 hours?" They laughed, and then groaned at the prospect of marching all over the place in search of the 2 missing sisters. 

"How about we go sit down and have lunch" Cooan suggested.

"Can't" Beruche sighed.

"Why?" Cooan asked, a little shocked.

"No money" She answered gloomily.

"Oh…your right…" Cooan moaned. "Well, let's just sit somewhere anyway."

Beruche nodded and they started towards the nearest empty seat. 

There was a flash of red hair amongst the crowd. Cooan stopped stock still as memories came flooding back to her. _Rubeus…the only man I'll ever love… I wish I could see him again…I wish I could BE with him… But the senshi said you died… I'll always love you… _

"Cooan?" She jumped.

"Cooan! Are you alright?" Beruche asked, looking worried.

"Fine" She sighed. "My feet hurt is all" she managed with a smile.

Beruche pulled a face. "So do mine. Come on. We'd better get that seat before someone else grabs it."

Cooan nodded in agreement and followed her sister to sit down.

"Prince Demando, I'm ready to go to the 20th Century now" Esmeraude reported.

"Good" he nodded and ushered for her to leave.

"Better late then never" Saffir said under his breath.

Esmeraude glared at him as she stalked out the door. "Saffir, I'll be gone for at least 3 days! Who knows what I may need in that primitive cesspool! I had to do a little packing. A girl can never be too sure of what to take you know."

"Only their entire wardrobe which takes up at least three quarters of space in one of our standard ships! Tell me. You don't really expect that thing to be able to take off now do you?" Saffir chided with an amused glint in his eye. 

Esmeraude stopped abruptly at that. "What!?" she cried.

Saffir opened his mouth to say something but Demando cut him off. 

"Saffir… Esmeraude… shut-up. Esmeraude, I believe you were going?" That wasn't a question, a statement, and she knew it. 

"Yes, my Prince" she mumbled, and walked out of the throne room towards the docking bay.

__

Why does that little worm ALWAYS have to make me look stupid? Especially in front of Demando. The only other person who could ever do that was Rubeus. At least I got rid of him! A smile spread across her beautiful face. She started to laugh at the thought of getting rid of Saffir as well. Lucky for her, no one was around so she wouldn't get embarrassed at the sound of her laugh. Not that she ever did, but she would if she ever listened to herself. _Yes Saffir darling. You too will disappear after I finish this mission. And once you're gone, Demando will be mine!_

She walked triumphantly the rest of the way to the ship.

__

Wow that guy is hot! I'm so lucky he's here. He sounded pretty thirsty, so he should fall at my feet when he sees I've brought him some water. Mimmeto thought happily as she all but skipped back towards Eudial's lab. She reached the door and threw it open enthusiastically, to be greeted by the sight of Eudial sprawled on her back, and an unmerciful Rubeus bearing down on her. _How dare she try and steal him away from me! _Mimetto thought furiously. _He's mine! _She must have growled or something because he noticed her and stopped advancing on the frightened red head. She stopped all jealous thoughts and beamed at him without realizing that he wasn't staring at her, it was the glass she held in her hand.

"Here" she held the glass out shyly. He snatched the glass from her hand, and all but drained it in one gulp. 

Without even thanking her, he turned to Eudial who was now kneeling on the floor, a dazed expression on her face, and back to Mimetto again. He gave them a lazy smile "I've got too many things to take care of then waste time with you wenches. But don't worry, there's always later." Then he turned around and strolled casually out the door. 

Both Mimetto and Eudial stared open-mouthed at the space he had just vacated. Neither realizing just what they had gotten themselves into.

"Esmeraude…" he growled as he stalked out of the building, forcing people to move out of his way or be run down. 

It was nighttime. The light posts were streaming down a strong, yellowish light, which illuminated parts of the car park, and road. Sounds from the highways could be heard clearly from far off. There was a slight breeze, which caused a few leaves to dance. 

Rubeus noticed but was too wound up in thoughts of vengeance and bitter dislike to pay much attention to the couple to the right of him.

"B…but Professor!" the woman protested.

"The answer is NO Tellu," the man said smoothly. Light flashed off his glasses as he got into his car. The woman stood and stared dumbly at him as he backed out of the parking space and took off down the road. 

"Ah…bloody hell…" the woman sighed dejectedly, turned, got into her own car and took off in the other direction. 

It was also because of this that he failed to notice that he was now in the middle of the road until a bright set of headlights snapped his attention back to where he was. 

"Oh fuck!" was about all he had time to say before he made a desperate jump out of the way of the yellow convertible. The convertible swerved to the side and hit the brakes, skidding to a halt. Rubeus jumped up and stormed over to the car. At the same moment, a handsome young man with short sandy coloured hair and wearing a tailor made cream suit pushed open the driver side door, and stormed angrily over to where he was.

"What the fuck did you think you were doing!" the man shouted at him. "Your lucky nothing happened to my car! You would have paid dearly!"

Rubeus said nothing.

"I could have hit you! Don't you know to look before crossing the street?" the man continued yelling and put a hand on his hip. _What's this guys problem? He's just lucky I'm not beating the krap out of him! _He thought.

__

This guys dead and he doesn't even know it! Rubeus thought, the beginnings of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. His eyes glittered dangerously. He reached inside himself to the power within, and swore viciously when he realized that he wasn't fully recharged yet. No matter, he could still use magic to attack, plus he still had one earring, and that drew a bit of power from the jakozuishou. He wanted to blast this creep no matter what. His aura enlarged slightly as he readied his attack. He planned on making it painful for the shock this guy had given him. The man's eyes widened. It was obvious that he knew what Rubeus was about to do, though how he could have known, Rubeus had no idea. And just now, he didn't care. The man clenched his fists and put weight on the leg behind him, looking wary. 

The power was growing and was ready to be released. He spread his hands to gather the energy.

"STOP!" someone shouted. 

Rubeus paused. A woman with long, wavy blue/green hair rushed out of the car and went to stand between them. She looked familiar. And now that he thought of it, so did the man. _I've seen these two somewhere before…_

The woman faced him. She didn't look scared, she was calm, but her eyes were pleading. 

"Please…" she began. "She didn't mean to nearly run over you. You just appeared out of nowhere." 

"Michiru!" the man began, but she shushed him.

"We're sorry to have inconvenienced you in any way." She began again.

"Go" Rubeus interrupted before she could say more. She nodded, grabbed the mans hand and set off towards the car. The man's green eyes glared at him one final time before he turned and let himself be dragged off by his girlfriend. 

It was uncommon for Rubeus to let someone go after they had seriously pissed him off. _There_ _was just something about them that was…familiar…_

It was even more uncommon for something to shock him. _Oh well…_he thought _Now to get back to what I'm going to do that green haired bitch when I get my hands on her. She's gonna wish I'd given her that non-torturous death when we were kids…_

He had begun walking the opposite direction of where the convertible was and stopped short as a thought popped into his head. Turning back around he stared at the convertible as it disappeared into the night. _What did she mean by 'her?'_

The girl sighed as she walked slowly along the pavement. Her day had been bad. Her day was ALWAYS bad thanks to the people at school. She was going home. 

Her father wouldn't be impressed that she was late, again, but she loved to walk at night. The silent hours were so peaceful and…lonely. Just like her. She sighed again.

Her shoulder length black hair blew a little in the small breeze. Her hair was black, but it shimmered purple in the light. Everyone said so. Her eyes were a friendly, dusky purple that betrayed her loneliness even now. 

Her green/cheque skirt swished almost silently against her black stockinged legs as she walked. Her black boots tapped against the ground, the rhythm of her footsteps always at the same pace. She wore a maroon/red long sleeved shirt with a dark blue collar and cuffs, and a light blue striped bow at the front of it. Above the bow, and on the under-material in between the sailor collar was a black star. The uniform was from Mugen Gakuen. The Infinity Academy. A school for the intellectually gifted. 

She didn't particularly want to go home. She disliked her housekeeper because the woman was a downright bitch. She didn't understand why her father had hired the woman. But ever since her mother died… thinking of her mother, she sighed for the third time. 

A car passed by her but she paid it no heed. That is until she heard it screech to a halt just a ways in front of her. Startled, she stopped where she was and watched what was happening. She saw a tall handsome man get out of the cool car, and start yelling at another tall handsome man who had walked up to him on the road. She saw a beautiful woman step out of the car and stop the impending threat of a fight. She saw the couple get back into the car and drive away, and the other man turn and walk in her direction. He didn't look happy. Suddenly he stopped and turned back to watch the retreating car, as if something had suddenly dawned on him. 

She started walking again, not taking her eyes off the man. 

She was close to him now, and he hadn't noticed her yet. He was still looking off in the direction the car had gone. _I might as well ask if he's okay _she thought.

"Are you alright?" she asked timidly.

He turned at her voice and stood, surveying her. His glare forced her to look away. She didn't like it. It was too full of hate and maliciousness. 

"What do you want?" he sneered, he crossed his arms over his chest.

She shivered at the sound of his voice. It was so full of hate. Her shoulders drooped a fraction and she stared at his boots. 

"I was…concerned that…" she turned away and started walking again "Never mind…"

There was a long pause, and she continued to walk. Then, in a much softer tone she heard:

"Never felt better."

She stopped walking and turned around to face him again. He still had his arms crossed, but he was no longer glaring. Instead, he looked almost weary, and he was watching her with a contemplative expression.

Encouraged, she asked, "Do you live around here?"

"No" he said after a while.

"Is your home very far from here?" she asked.

"Very" he answered.

"Oh…" she looked away.

There was a brief silence. She walked towards him. She was of average height for her age. He was tall. But that didn't unnerve her one bit. Standing in front of him, she stuck out a hand.

"I'm Hotaru. Hotaru Tomoe."

He looked surprised for a second then reached out and shook her hand. "I'm Rubeus Black moon." He addressed himself.

"Pleased to meet you" she said, and smiled. Odd emotions were running over his face. Finally he just said "Yeah."

Hotaru thought of something. 

"Seem as you're a long way from home, would you like to come to my house for dinner tonight?"

He stared at her for a long moment, then grinned. "You shouldn't invite strange men to come home with you Hotaru," he said in a lightly teasing tone.

She laughed. "Your no stranger then half the people my father brings home" she smiled. Then said under her breath "or employs".

He gave her an amused look and fell into step beside her. "It sounds better then standing around here at any rate." He admonished.

Together, they set off towards Hotaru's house.

End of part 2. Comments? Suggestions? Good and bad are welcome with either an e-mail or a review. J Email me at: [Lucca@I-o.net.au][1]

If you try to mail me from the address from the last chapter, that won't work 'cause it doesn't exist anymore. Hey! It happens! 

Anyways, those questions. Can someone please tell me about Haruka's, Michiru's, and the Witches 5's personalities? Don't worry about Mimmeto though. Thanks!

   [1]: mailto:Lucca@I-o.net.au



	4. Default Chapter Title

****

I Can't Use What I Can't Abuse

Disclaimer: Oh yay…part 3. Basically what I've said before… blah…blah…blah…

Oh yeah! A new development! I've finally seen the last remaining SMR eps. Whoohoo! And all I can really say is 'boy did I ever get Saffir wrong'. Or maybe I didn't. DIC could have screwed him up! Hee hee! Yes…that's it. Not my fault! Nuh-uh! Nope! Nuthin! 

…why the hell did they portray him as having a crush on Emerald? That wasn't nice. Poor Saffir. Anyways, if you have any suggestions or questions or insanity's write to [Lucca@I-o.net.au][1]

****

Part 3

Looking back on the last few hours, he really couldn't say why he had done it. Brash, uncaring, sadistic…there was a long list of negative words that he could use to describe himself, though only rarely was he unable to come up with anything adequate. He was Rubeus of the Black Moon family, and right now, he was clueless. Just a few hours ago he had reached for an extended hand. A hand willing to help HIM. A stranger…

He was tired, but he couldn't sleep. He was sprawled on top of the bed, arms hanging down either side, stripped to his black briefs. He was thinking. The trouble was, once he started, he couldn't stop. _Tomoe Hotaru… _he thought. What was it about her and those other two… people he had met before? They were familiar somehow…but he couldn't quite place from where. 

Surprisingly, Hotaru's father: Tomoe Souichi, hadn't even blinked when she lead him through the door and announced that her friend Rubeus was going to stay the night if that was ok. 

They'd shaken hands. Souichi had smiled and welcomed him into his home. And then he saw 'her'. 

At first he thought it was Eudial, with her long red hair. But it was all too quickly apparent that it was someone else. Her eyes were a deep purple, and her face was one of cold beauty. This woman radiated glacier cool. 

She stepped confidently to where the four of them were standing, and looked at him assessingly. 

There had not been many times in his life when he had been impressed by something. Let alone someone, but she had made him look more then once. 

She stood now, slightly behind Souichi, hand on hip stuck out seductively. She was wearing a short red dress, which was extremely low cut at the front, red high heels to match her dress, and a pair of gold tear drop earrings. Her hair (although hung loosely) had a plait that circled the top of her head. She wasn't wearing too much make up, and her perfume wasn't overbearing (unlike those four drooling idiots he'd had to put up with). 

"Kaori" Souichi nodded to her in acknowledgement.

"Professor" she purred.

It had been obvious that she liked the man in a 'big' way. 

"Kaori, this is Rubeus" Souichi said to her. To Rubeus he said "And this is my house keeper and assistant Kaorinite."

She stuck out a hand. He took it and kissed it. 

"Rubeus will be staying with us tonight. And maybe a few days more if he wishes" Souichi told her. 

Kaori raised her beautifully shaped eyebrows but said nothing. 

"Papa, I'm going to show Rubeus to his room" Hotaru cut in.

Her father nodded. She took Rubeus by the hand and led him towards the stairs. 

***

Later, at dinner, they had sat in the dining room and sat around a nicely polished round table. Rubeus wasn't used to family dinners. He had sat around a table with his family and fellow soldiers only at balls and feasts, and other events like that. The Black Moon Family had never been too sociable. (Unless it fell under royal protocol, or someone needed a major dose of flattery).

Everyone except Hotaru had drunk red wine. He had been reminded of Prince Demando. The prince usually had a glass of red wine in hand. Though what was different, was that this stuff had been a deeper, darker crimson; like blood. And it wasn't sweet like Demando's. It was dry. He knew this because once, on one of their 'better' days, Esmeraude had dared him to break into the Prince's stash. And shit did he have a lot. 'Wine can only mature with age' he had remembered being told. Anyway, shit happened and he'd been found out. The bloody bitch had prattled. It wasn't anything major. He had just been relieved of his duties for a few weeks. But payback had been sweet. He hadn't done anything that would get him into more trouble. Just little things that no one would suspect him of like putting super lasting hair dye in her shampoo that matched her stupid fan. She should have been thankful really. At least for about 6 weeks she had something that went with the stupid thing. 

During the meal, he kept looking at Kaori. She had glanced at him a few times from under her lashes, but mostly kept looking sideways at Hotaru's father. 

It was about here that the unavoidable happened: General conversation.

It was Hotaru's father who started it with "So, where do you come from Rubeus?"

He had had to take a few seconds to think this over. "Okazaki City"

"That's only a few hours away from here. I thought you said you lived very far away," Hotaru said, looking slightly puzzled.

He blinked "It is if you walk".

That killed the conversation, for which he was proud of. Until…

"I never did catch your last name" Kaori said, a hint of humour in her tone. Though why, he had had no idea.

"Black moon" he replied.

"Black moon?" she raised an eyebrow. I've heard that name before. Let me see…" it was obvious that she was playing a game. He looked sideways at Hotaru and saw that she was glaring at the woman. "Oh, I know where I've heard it now!" she exclaimed in mock remembrance. "You must be from the Black Moon Company that owns that makeup store" she finished; smiling in cold triumph and thinking that she'd put him on the spot.

"No" had been a very definite answer.

She had looked blank for a few seconds and then retorted with "Well, there have been a few other stores with the same sort of name in the past. There was another make up store, an ice cream parlor, dark fruit store (which I believe disappeared never to be seen again)…should I continue?"

He had grimaced as he recalled all the four sisters botched attempts at taking over crystal points. How did this woman know it had any connection to him?

"None of those either" he returned, staring into her eyes, daring her to open her mouth again.

Souichi interrupted the silence with "What about you family?"

"I have a lot of cousins" he answered truthfully.

"Do you see them much?" Hotaru asked.

"Too much" he replied.

They finished eating shortly afterwards.

***

"I have to go to school tomorrow" Hotaru had told him on their way upstairs. "Do you have any plans?"

__

Quite a lot. "None whatsoever" he had replied smoothly.

"Oh…well, you and Kaori could probably do something together." She said this softly.

His head whipped around sharply, "What?"

"Nothing" she hung her head and stared at the floor. They were outside his room. "Goodnight!" she said smiling, and turned around and walked down the hall.

He had watched her go until she disappeared. _I've met her before, I know it!_

******

__

Why do men have to fall all over Kaori? She thought angrily. _She's an evil bitch, doesn't care about anything except herself…_she sighed _and maybe Papa…_

With Rubeus I sense a…a…great coldness, but also anger, and loss… She rolled over.

__

He's smitten with Kaori. She's just going to hurt him. I know she knows. She's been watching him almost as much as he's been watching her! She rolled onto her other side.

__

She better leave him alone tomorrow while I'm not here or else! She rolled onto her back and glared at the ceiling until she finally felt sleep.

******

"Oh, this could be very bad" he smirked.

"Yes it is, and your sure as hell not going to get away with this!" she yelled in a high pitched squeal.

"Oh really! And why not?" he laughed mockingly.

"Because people will miss me!" she squealed again and took a small, unsure step backward.

"Esmeraude, you really are clueless. Nobody will miss you, because you mean SHIT to anyone. You waft around, waving that damn ridiculous fan of yours, laughing your glass shattering cackle, and wiggling your tightly clad arse in Demando's face! And any other man that's around for that matter. I've been waiting for this for a very long time…"

He was face to face with her now. Her pupils had expanded and were very large. Her breathing was coming in quick, sharp gasps. Fine beads of perspiration were on her brow. He stared cruelly into her eyes and smiled, showing his even, white teeth. Her fan clattered to the floor.

His hands reached up, circling her slender white neck, and squeezed. Harder, and harder, and harder. Her face went red, the eyes bulging in their sockets.

This wasn't enough for him. He pushed her head against the wall. Again and again, with each thud getting louder, and quicker.

Thud…

Thud…

Thud… 

THUD…

"Wha??" he sat up in bed.

"Well, it's about bloody time!" Kaori snapped as she stormed into the room carrying a covered tray. 

He glared at her. "What are you doing?" he asked coldly. 

She stopped stock still for a few seconds with a look of shock on her face before regaining her composure. "Bringing you breakfast you imbecile!" she snapped.

He just looked at her.

"Professor's orders" she shrugged.

"Riiight…" he smirked.

She set the tray down on the bedside table and straightened. Looking around the room she said "You know, your clothes are going to get wrinkled if you leave them like that."

He looked at the floor. His pants and top were exactly where he'd left them: in a heap on the floor at the end of the bed. Hell, that's where he always left them, and they always looked just fine when he eventually put them on!

He noticed she was eyeing the heap and when she started to walk toward them he grabbed her wrist. "Don't even think about it" he ground out.

"Let go of me!" she cried and struggled to get out of his grip. He wasn't having any of that and tugged, hard. She fell on top of him with a shriek. 

She was struggling to get up but he snaked his arm around her waist and held her fast.

"What do you think you're doing?" she cried in outrage.

"Saving my clothes and having a bit of fun while I'm at it" he said conversationally.

She continued struggling and her short skirt rode up exposing the rest of her thighs. (Not that there was too much more to expose). The top of her dress was also threatening to do the same thing; she was straining so hard.

"If you don't let me go this minute…" she began, her voice an octave higher than usual.

He let her go. She ceased moving and looked at him. He was looking at her with disgust, though he seemed to be looking right through her.

"You let me… go?" she said out loud, wonderingly, though it came out as a question, and she still didn't get off his folded legs. She brushed some disarrayed hair off her face that had come loose and waited for him to do something. Now that she thought about it, she didn't mind sitting on him, leaning against his nice warm, hard chest.

"Perhaps you'd better get off me," he said.

Her jaw dropped. "Now just a damn minute!" She began, but she was interrupted with a mouthful of doona cover as he slid out of bed beneath her and moved to get dressed.

"What are you playing at?" she yelled at him as he slid his green pants on up his legs. He zipped up and fastened the button before looking her up and down a few times in a perfectly leering manner. "Nope, it's definitely not you personally," he drawled "your dress just reminded me of something."

"What's wrong with my dress?" she demanded.

By now he'd shrugged into the brown leather top and zipped it up at the front. 

"Well, I see nothing wrong from where I'm standing…" he leered at her. She went red.

"It made me think of that shit for brains ditz for a cousin I have…" he said under his breath.

"What?" she asked.

"Never you mind" he answered while sitting back down on the bed and putting on his boots.

She pursed her lips. How DARE this man insult her after what he had just done! She blushed again at the thought. Not that she'd liked it or anything…

He noticed the untouched breakfast tray and said idly "What's for breakfast?" Stretched, and scratched his stomach.

Kaori rolled her eyes "Well why don't you find out you lazy pig?" she said sweetly.

"I would but it's not the man's job to put the food where it's wanted" he matched her tone and glared. 

She looked at the tray, thinking about complying and dumping it on his head at the last minute. She didn't fancy her chances of getting away before he did something worse to her though.

She glared at him and turned to leave the room. "I would, but serving a jerk like you is against all my principals." Then as an afterthought she added "I've got work to do," and left the door open on her way out.

Rubeus smiled and got off the bed to go to the tray. Lifting the lid he laughed to see a plate of bacon and eggs on toast, and a coffee decanter.

It has been a looooong time since he had had such a meal for breakfast. 

It took him two minutes to finish it.

***

Halfway down the stairs, he met Souichi on his way up. 

"Rubeus!" the Professor grinned. "I was just on my way to see you."

"Really!" Rubeus said humorously, racking his brains for a reason the Prof. would want to see him for. He looked him in the eyes and noticed for the first time the weird design on one the lenses. How could he have missed it before? He thought to himself.

"What do you have planned today?" Souichi asked him.

"I was planning on walking around Tokyo today actually," he said, still staring at the lens of Professor Tomoe's glasses.

"Ah, well, I don't suppose you'll care to honour me with a visit to the lab then?" he asked.

"Well, that doesn't sound…" Rubeus began.

"Excellent!" Souichi said and whirled on his heel and started back down the stairs. "Follow me."

He did. After all, he was a guest, and it was common courtesy to do so. They reached the front doors and went outside to what he presumed was the Professor's car.

Professor Tomoe opened the front passenger door and beckoned for Rubeus to get inside. Rubeus looked at the car, then at the Professor and back again. "You want me to get in THAT?" he asked dryly.

The Professor didn't seem to take offense and said plainly, "Yes."

He complied. 

Souichi got in beside him and started the car. Then they started down the long spacious driveway and out onto the road. Rubeus could count how many times he had been in a car in his entire life on one hand. This version was an ancient Terran model, and Souichi handled it quite well. 

"Are you of a scientific mind?" he asked conversationally.

Rubeus hated admitting he didn't know something, so he simply said, "I'm more of a strategist."

"Ah!" Souichi cried. "You play a bit of chess then!" 

Rubeus groaned inwardly. He hated the game. "No… I meant strategist of a different kind," he said. The car had pulled to a stop.

"Oh?" Souichi raised an eyebrow. "Care to enlighten me?" he asked as he got out of the car.

Rubeus also got out of the car, but instead of answering, he was interrupted by a familiar high-pitched voice yelling "Professor! Hey Professor!" 

He turned around. The sight of the big building he had vacated only last night filled his line of vision. …As did the little blonde running toward Souichi.

The Professor however, had all his attention riveted on Rubeus, waiting for his answer.

The blonde reached the Professor and tapped him impatiently on the shoulder, opened her mouth to speak, saw Rubeus, got hearts in her eyes and chirped happily "Hey! Your back!" 

"Fuck!" he groaned, and hit his forehead on the top of the car with a dull thud. 

   [1]: mailto:Lucca@I-o.net.au



End file.
